Double take: Tom Hardy looks gangster as The Kray twins in the first film still from the movie biopic Legend

If there was one British actor who could simultaneously bring to life the UK's most famous gangster twins, it was always going to be Tom Hardy.

And the Hollywood star certainly looked the parts in the first film still from The Krays biopic, Legend.

Wearing the glasses and three-piece suit of Ronnie on one side, while smoking a cigarette as Reggie on the other, even in this single shot one can see how Tom has defined each character.

First look: Tom in his latest roles as Ronnie (left) and Reggie Kray in the film, Legend

Challenge: Tom will portray both The Kray twins in the film, which the actor knows will be difficult but exciting

The film also stars Emily Browning, David Thewlis and Christopher Eccleston but the supporting cast have yet to be seen on the east London set, which continued filming on Thursday.

Wearing prosthetics and vintage suits, Tom's stand-in was dressed as Reggie to help the crew set up shots for the main talent at Turner's Old Star pub.

The artist Joseph Mallard William Turner was rumoured to be the owner of the watering hole, and it is though that he often visited the place of debauchery under the pseudonym 'Admiral Puggy Booth'.

Bespectacled: Tom Hardy dons thick glasses for his role as gangster twin Ronnie Kray in Legend

Enigmatic: Tom cut a suave figure in his elegant spectacles as he began fliming the gangster movie

Starring role: Tom is surrounded by cast and crew as he films the protagonists of the crime drama

No doubt, the pub is a resonant choice
for the film which chronicles the life of two of the most notorious
gangsters in British history who grew up and operated primarily from the
East End.

Ronnie and Reggie
were born on 25 October 1933 in Hoxton, and first attended Wood Close
School in Brick Lane before going onto Daniel Street School.

In
1938, the Kray family moved from Hoxton to Bethnal Green, at 178
Vallance Road, which is certainly not far from Turner's Old Star.

Mirror image: The actor removed his glasses to play the role of Ronnie's brother Reggie

Dodgy dealings: Reggie Kray formed one half of one of Britain's most notorious crime duos

At
Cannes this year there was a lot of interest in the film, with the
response from buyers that it 'was one of the best scripts' they'd come
across.

Confirming the news in April, Tom said: 'I'm on that right now. I've got to work out how to play both twins, which will be fun. It's another experiment and I'm really looking forward to it.

'I’m
not going to put too much pressure on myself, I just want to have some
fun. The more of a challenge I give myself, the easier it is to take on
more projects which are complicated in the future.'

On the run: Tom films an action-packed chase in one of the scenes from the film

Solemn: The actor plays the role of complex and tormented characters in the tense psychological drama

The Hollywood hunk previously told MailOnline that he was keen to take on the roles as he said: ‘All the plans are on the table.

'There’s a lot of crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s, and there’s a lot of shift and geography to work out.’

From
a screenplay penned by LA Confidential writer, Brian Helgeland, the
story will focus on the Kray twins’ wheelings and illegal dealings
during the fifties and sixties, with Hardy playing both brothers.

‘It
would be difficult,’ Tom said about the mechanics of playing two
characters sharing a lot of the same screen time. ‘It’s quite technical
and I’m a bit of an anorak.’

Resonant: The crew were filming at Turner's Old Star pub in Wapping with Tom's stand-in

Disguise: Tom was barely unrecognisable as he filmed scenes as the Kray twins

Convincing: The stand-in certainly looked like the Hollywood star to the untrained eye

He
added: ‘There’s a physical transfer; we’d have to shoot one bit, go
away come back and shoot it all again with another part. I’ve never
dreamt of playing two people on the screen!’

Hardy is expected to portray the struggle
of the elder brother Reggie to keep in check the unstable actions of
his younger twin, rumoured to have been a paranoid schizophrenic.

As heads of the notorious criminal gang The Firm, the Krays were behind numerous armed robberies, murders, arson attacks and protection rackets up until their arrest on 9th May 1968.

Their story was previously told on film in the 1990s, with real life brothers Martin and Gary Kemp playing the title roles.

The Oscar-winning screenwriter’s script
doesn’t just concern the criminals that the brothers dealt with, but
also the likes of Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and other celebrities, who
frequented their former Knightsbridge nightclub Esmeralda's Barn, which
is now the site of the Berkeley Hotel.

It is also said to look at
Ronnie’s alleged sexual relationship with two British politicians; Lord
Boothby, a UK Conservative Party politician, and, Labour MP Tom Driberg.

Of
course, playing a violent former boxer-turned-criminal won’t be too
tough a feat for Hardy, who proved his worth as the title character in
Nicolas Winding Refn’s biopic Bronson.

And he continued down the gangster
path with his role in BBC period crime drama Peaky Blinders,
opposite his Inception co-star Cillian Murphy.

Second time: Martin and Gary Kemp played The Krays in the 1990 movie of their criminal exploits